Slurry pump



p 16, 1969 D. R. PRESSON 3,467,018

SLURRY PUMP Filed Aug. 21, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 & t

all g I v A 4 9 DONALD R. PRESSON INVE N T01? A 77'ORNEV D. R. PRESSON SLURRY PUMP Sept. 16, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 21, 1967 001mm R. PRESSON yzawe ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,467,018 SLURRY PUMP Donald R. Presson, 4856 E. Harvard Ave., Fresno, Calif. 93703 Filed Aug. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 661,857 Int. Cl. F04d 3/02, 29/10, 29/52 US. Cl. 103-117 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an improved pump for pumping a slurry of wall texturing material. The pump is of the type utilizing an auger which is located inside of a resiliently lined housing. The auger is driven rotatably by a motor to a bearing mounted shaft. The shaft passes into a supply chamber which is connected to a supply hopper and supplies the auger, and a rotary seal is provided between the supply chamber walls and the drive shaft. Important improvements in this pump are the provision of a hard rubber disc with a center hole smaller than the outside diameter of the drive shaft, which, when forced onto the drive shaft and secured to the supply chamber housing, provides a more effective rotary seal; a pinned toggle connecting shaft between the drive shaft and the auger which avoids excessive wear of the drive shaft baring and the rotary seal due to eccentric movement of the auger during rotation, and an access plate on the supply chamber which permits easy access to the rotary seal for adjustment and replacement.

This invention relates generally to slurry pumps and more particularly to pumps for pumping a slurry of wall texturing material.

In recent years, the construction industry has developed new techniques for finishing the walls of building structures. Particularly, techniques have been developed for forming the interior walls of buildings with sheets of fiber board or similar material and then surfacing these sheets with a finishing material to give a texture resembling plaster. To utilize these techniques, new equipment has been developed for applying the texturing material to the wallboard, and different surfacing materials have been developed for forming different textures.

The most common technique now in use is to blow on a putty like texturing material in a slurry by means of air pressure and allow it to dry on the wall surfaces to form the desired texture. For purposes of application, the slurry of wall texturing material is pumped to a nozzle which is also fed with compressed air for spray-on application. The wall texturing material and the air then mix in the nozzle and exit in the form of a spray.

Because of the density and abrasive quality of a slurry of wall texturing material, the pumps presently used are subject to considerable wear and require frequent repair and rebuilding. This problem increases costs and shutdown time for the equipment. Also, pumps heretofore developed for this purpose have not been readily accessible for easy repair and rebuilding. A need, therefore, exists for a pump for pumping a slurry of wall texturing material that has greater durability and is easier to repair and rebuild than those heretofore developed, and is still capable of the same capacity of operation.

It is, therefore, a major object of my invention to provide a pump for pumping a slurry of wall texturing material which has a capacity equal to pumps heretofore known and yet at the same time is more durable, and easier to repair and rebuild than pumps formerly known in the art.

It is another object of my invention to provide a pump of the type described which utilizes an improved hard 3,467,018 Patented Sept. 16, 1969 rubber disc seal to form the rotary seal between the pump housing and drive shaft.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a pump of the type described with a pin toggle connecting shaft in the pump drive shaft to avoid excessive eccentric movement of the drive shaft.

It is still another object of my invention to provide a pump of the type described in which the supply chamber of the pump has access means which permit adjustment or replacement of the rotary seal without requiring removal of the pump from its installation.

It is still a further object of my invention to provide a pump of the type described which is relatively inexpensive to construct and easy to use.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will become more readily apparent from reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of my invention in cross-section;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view in cross-section showing portions of the preferred embodiment of my invention disassembled for access.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly, to FIGURES 1 and 2, the numeral 10 designates generally a pump embodying my invention. The pump 10 has a base plate 11 formed integrally with a supply chamber housing 12. The base plate 11 has an opening 13 which communicates with a supply chamber 14 inside the supply chamber housing 12, and bolts 15 which surround the opening 13 and secure the base 11 and supply chamber housing 12 to the bottom of a supply hopper 16. The supply chamber housing 12 is disposed below the supply hopper 16 so that a slurry of wall texturing material disposed in the supply hopper passes by gravity feed into the supply chamber 14.

T 0 pump the slurry of wall texturing material from the supply chamber housing 12, a displacement assembly 17 is mounted on one side of the supply chamber housing and extends outwardly therefrom in a substantially horizontal direction. To drive the displacement assembly, a drive assembly 1-8 is provided on the other side of the supply chamber housing 12, in axial alignment with the displacement assembly 17.

The displacement assembly 17 has a cylindrical auger housing 19 in which is mounted a fluted auger 20. A resilient sleeve 21, normally formed of hard rubber or other suitable resilient material, is disposed inside the auger housing 19 and snugly surrounds the auger 20.

The outermost end of the displacement assembly 17 is the output port for the pump 10 at this point, the auger housing 19 is connected by means of external threads to a reducer 22, which is in turn connected by means of a fitting 23 to an output hose. At its inner end, the auger housing 19 is connected by means of external threads to a supply chamber access plate 24 which is mounted by means of bolts 25 to the supply chamber housing 12, to close and seal a supply chamber access port 26.

The drive assembly 18 consists of a drive motor 27 which is mounted by some appropriate means to the base plate 11, and a drive shaft 28. The drive shaft 28 is coupled to the motor 27 by a pinned coupling to permit easy disassembly. Drive shaft 28 is rotatably supported by two bearing blocks, an outer bearing block 30 mounted near the motor 27, and an inner bearing block 31 mounted near the supply chamber housing 12. The bearing blocks and 31 are also mounted to the base plate 11, and are constructed in a manner known in the art.

As best shown in FIGURE 2, the drive shaft 28, at its inner end, passes through a hole 32 in the supply chamber housing 12 and terminates near the center of the supply chamber 14.

To seal the drive shaft 28 where it passes through the hole 32 in supply chamber housing 12 and prevent leakage of the slurry of wall texturing material along the drive shaft, a rotary seal 33 is provided. The rotary seal 33 has a hard rubber disc 34 which is centered about the hole 32 and secured to the inside of the supply chamber 12 by means of a metal mounting ring 35 and bolts 36. The disc 35 has a center hole 37 which is substantially smaller in diameter than the outside diameter of the shaft 28. The disc is sufliciently resilient, however, to permit the inner end of drive shaft 28 to be forced through the center hole 37 in substantially the manner shown in FIGURE 2, and to permit the rotation of shaft 28 within hole 37, after such assembly.

To connect the drive shaft 28 to the auger 20, a connecting shaft 38 is provided which has convex toggle balls 39 mounted on each end, each with a radially directed passage 40 therethrough. The inner end of drive shaft 28 has a cylindrical cavity 41 which communicates from the supply chamber 14 outwardly to a point beyond the inner bearing block 31. One end of the connecting shaft 38 is disposed in the cavity 41 with the toggle ball 39 and radial passage 40 positioned just outward of the inner bearing block 31. The drive shaft 28 and the connecting shaft 38 are interconnected at this point by means of a connector pin 42 which is disposed in a pair of radially aligned holes 43 in the drive shaft 28 and passes therethrough and into the passage 40 in the toggle ball 39. A collar 44 is provided on the outside of drive shaft 28 to secure the connector pin 42 in place. The collar 44 is locked in this position on drive shaft 28 by means of an Allen head locking screw.

The inner end of anger 20 also has a cylindrical cavity 45 into which the inner end of the connecting shaft 38 is disposed. The inner end of the connecting shaft 38 is pinned to the inner end of the auger 20 by a pin 46 which is disposed in a pair of holes 47 which are radially aligned, and passes through the radial passage 40 and is held in place by a collar 48 in the same manner as previously described with respect to the opposite end of the connecting shaft 38. The pin 46, holes 47 and the radially directed passage 40 through the inner end of the connecting shaft 38 are, however, disposed at right angles to the radially directed passage 40, pin 42 and holes 43 in the outer end of the connecting shaft. Also, the outside diameter of the connecting shaft 38 itself is substantially smaller than the inside diameter of the cavities 41 and 45. This connection arrangement of the drive shaft 28 the auger 20 substantially limits the transmission of eccentric movement of the auger to the drive shaft and minimizes the stress and wear on the rotary seal 33 and the bearing blocks 30 and 31.

To permit easy cleaning of the supply chamber 14, a drain plug 50 is provided which is threaded in the lower portion of supply chamber housing 12.

When wear occurs in the rotary seal 33, the structure of my pump 10 permits easy access for repair or replacement of this seal. This access is accomplished by disconnecting the outer end of connecting shaft 38 from the drive shaft 28 by removing the collar 44 from its locking position over the pin 42, and displacement of the pin 42 from the radially directed passage 40 and the radially aligned holes 43. After this disconnection has been accomplished, the auger assembly 17 can be removed from the supply chamber housing 12 by removing the bolts 25 which hold the supply chamber access plate 24. Access to the rotary seal 34 may then be had through the supply chamber access port 26, bolts 36 which hold the mounting ring 37 removed, and the hard rubber disc 35 removed for repair or replacement.

From this detailed description of my improved pump, it will be understood that the difiiculties experienced with pumps heretofore developed for pumping slurries of wall texturing material have been largely overcome. Particularly, a simple and yet effective rotary seal 33 is provided in my pump which is easily repairable or replaceable, when necessary, and such repair or replacement may be accomplished without removing of the supply chamber housing 12 and base 11 from the supply hopper 16. All that is required is disconnection of the connector shaft 38 from the drive shaft 28, as explained above, and removal of the supply chamber access plate 24. Moreover, the wear and tear caused to the rotary seal and the drive shaft bearing blocks by reason of the ecentric movement of the auger 20 has been greatly reduced by the double toggle drive connection between the auger 20 and the drive shaft 28 provided by the connecting shaft 38.

It will, therefore, be understood by those skilled in the art that I have achieved the objects and provided the advantages heretofore set forth in this preferred embodiment of my invention. It should also be understood, however, that I do not mean to limit myself to the particular details herein set forth, except as provided in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material, the combination of an output port for delivering said slurries from said a supply chamber for receiving said slurry into said p p; displacement means disposed in communication with said output port and said supply chamber through a first wall thereof and operable upon rotation to displace said slurry from said supply chamber to said output port; drive means for rotatably driving said displacement means, including a rotatable drive shaft disposed in communication with said supply chamber through a second wall thereof opposite said first wall;

interconnecting means drivingly interconnected with said drive means and said displacement means, and disposed to transmit power therebetween; rotary seal means operatively associated with said supply chamber second wall and said drive shaft and disposed to prevent leakage of said slurry from said supply chamber and along said drive shaft; and

access means operatively associated with said supply chamber first wall and said rotary seal and disposed to permit ready access to said rotary seal.

2. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material, the combination described in claim 1 in which:

said rotary seal means includes a resilient disc secured in sealing engagement with said second wall of said supply chamber and having means defining a hole therethrough with an inside diameter substantially smaller than the outside diameter of said drive shaft, said disc being disposed with a portion of said drive shaft insert through said hole and being of such resilience as to form a sealing engagement with said drive shaft which permits rotation of said drive shaft with respect to said disc.

3. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material, the combination described in claim 1 in which:

said interconnecting means includes a rod having a toggle ball at each end thereof with a convex outer surface and an outside diameter substantially greater than the outside diameter of the intermediate portion of said rod, a radially directed passage through each of said toggle balls, with the axis of the first of said passages disposed normal to the axis of the second, a cavity in a portion of said drive shaft disposed proximate to said displacement means and in substantial alignment with the axis of said drive shaft, a cavity in a portion of said displacement means disposed proximately to said drive shaft and in substantial alignment with the axis thereof, the internal diameter of each of said cavities being substantially the same as the outside diameter of said toggle balls, and removable pin means operatively associated with each of said cavities and said radially directed passages through said toggle balls and disposed to pivotally secure the toggle ball at a first end of said rod in said displacement means cavity inside said supply chamber and the toggle ball at a second other end of said rod in the said drive shaft cavity at a point outside, said supply chamber, thereby drivingly interconnecting said drive means to said displacement means with the plane of pivotal movement of said rod at said first end being disposed normal to the plane of pivotal movement of said rod at said second end, and collar means on said drive shaft surrounding said pin means at said second end and removable therefrom to permit removal of said pin means.

4. In a pump for pumping a Slurry of relatively dense material, the combination described in claim 1 in which:

said access means includes means defining an access port in said first wall of said supply chamber disposed to permit easy access to said rotary seal means and of sufficient size to permit passage of said rotary seal means therethrough, and an access plate re, movably secured to said supply chamber first wall and disposed to cover and seal Said access port.

5. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material, the combination described in claim 1 in which:

said rotary seal means includes a resilient disc di posed in sealing engagement with said second Wall of said supply chamber and said drive shaft; and

said interconnecting means includes a connecting shaft disposed between said drive shaft and said displacement means and pivotally connected to said drive shaft outside said supply chamber for pivotal movement in a first plane, and pivotally connected to said displacement means inside said supply chamber for pivotal movement in a second plane disposed normal to said first plane.

6. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material, having rotatable auger disposed in a cylindrical housing With a resilient internal lining, an output port disposed at one end of said auger, a supply chamber disposed at the other end of said auger, and a drive shaft interconnected with said auger and disposed in communication with said supply chamber, the combination of:

rotary seal means operatively associated with said supply chamber and said drive shaft and disposed adjacent a wall thereof to prevent leakage of said slurry from said supply chamber along said drive shaft;

drive interconnecting means disposed to interconnect said drive shaft and said auger and being disconnectable from outside said supply chamber; and access means operatively associated with said supply chamber and said rotary seal means and disposed in another wall thereof opposite said one wall to permit ready access to said rotary seal means.

7. In a pump for pumping a slurry of relatively dense material of the type described in claim 6, the combination in which:

said rotary seal means includes a resilient disc disposed in sealing engagement with one wall of said supply chamber and said drive shaft; and

said drive interconnecting means includes a rod having a toggle ball at each end thereof with a convex outer surface and an outside diameter substantially greater than the outside diameter of the intermediate portion of said rod, a radially directed passage through each of said toggle balls, with the access of the first of said passages disposed normal to the access of the second, a cavity in a portion of said drive shaft disposed proximate to said auger and in substantial alignment with the axis of said drive shaft, a cavity in a portion of said auger disposed proximate to said drive shaft and in substantial alignment with the axis thereof, the internal diameter of each of said cavities being substantially the same as the outside diameter of said toggle balls, and means operatively associated With said cavities and said radially directed passages through said toggle balls and disposed to pivotally secure the toggle ball of the first end of said rod to said drive shaft outside said supply chamber for pivotal movement in a first plane and disposed to pivotally secure the toggle ball at a second end of said rod to said auger inside said supply chamber for pivotal movement in a second plane disposed normal to said first plane.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,649,428 11/1927 Waring 277166 1,891,285 12/1932 Loewus 277166 2,640,421 6/ 1953 Lindberg. 3,307,486 3/1967 Lindberg.

FOREIGN PATENTS 491,150 2/1954 Italy. 177,541 12/1961 Sweden.

DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner WILBUR I. GOODLIN, Assistant Examiner 

